MASTS AND SAILS 47 



the consumption was about i^ ton. It will be seen, there- 

 fore, that each day made a marked difference in our stock of 

 coal when fires were alight in the main boilers. But of course 

 throughout our long imprisonment in the ice these fires were 

 not lighted, and then our consumption was only such as was 

 necessary for cooking and for warming the ship, and during 

 our second winter we reduced this to the very moderate figure 

 of 15 cwt. per week. 



A description of the ' Discovery ' would scarcely be com- 

 plete without a word or two about the spread of canvas which 

 assisted our voyage so greatly. The ship was under-masted : 

 the mainmast from truck to keelson was only 112 feet, and 

 this is extremely short for such a vessel, while comparatively 

 speaking for this height of mast the yards were square {i.e. 

 long), the mainyard being 60 feet in length. 



The ' Discovery ' was extraordinarily stiff, and could have 

 carried a much larger sail area with advantage. As it was, the 

 mainsail and jib were the only sails we took off for a gale, and 

 I think rarely, if ever, have top-gallant sails been carried 

 through such weather as ours. For the non-nautical reader I 

 may explain that in a gale there comes a time when certain 

 sails cannot be furled : to relieve the ship they must be either 

 cut or blown away. That we allowed our top-gallant sails to 

 remain spread in such weather shows our confidence in the 

 ' Discovery's ' stability as well as in our canvas and our 

 boatswain. 



But the comparatively small spread of sail was a great 

 drawback in light winds, and the ship was an extremely 

 sluggish sailer. Matters were rendered much worse also by the 

 masts being placed in the wrong position. They should have 

 been put much nearer the bows. When sailing ' on a 

 wind' in the 'Discovery' we had to trim our sails so that 

 everything forward was clean full while the sails on the main- 

 mast were almost shivering. These details are somewhat 

 technical, I fear, but it is very necessary that they should be 

 noted for the guidance of future explorers. Masts, yards, and 

 sails are rapidly passing away from the seas, but where the 



